CROATIA: REPORT ON ASYLUM SYSTEM

Tags

asylum, Balkans, Croatia, exilés

New Member State of the European Union, Croatia is also country of entry in the EU for people who go to Central and Western Europe through the Western Balkans. It can therefore become the country responsible for their asylum claim under the Dublin Regulation III.

The report which has just been published in AIDA (Asylum Information Database) describes the Croatian asylum system and points the major gaps: failure to take special care of vulnerable people, drastic reduction in the access of asylum applicants to the healthcare system due to a decree of December 2013, absence or insufficient presence of a doctor in the reception centers for asylum seekers, lack of free legal support in the first instance in the asylum procedure and in case of detention.

A summary of the report on the European Council on Refugees and Exiles weekly newsletter (in English):

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8e3ebd297b1510becc6d6d690&id=92db7846d0

You can download the report (in English) here.

 

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GREECE AND SYRIA: MIRROR GAME AROUND THE EXILES

Tags

Balkans, exilés, Greece, refugees

On the occasion of the manifestation of Syrian exiles outside the Greek parliament, internet users remind that, following the Treaty of Lausanne and the population exchange that took place between Greece and Turkey, Greeks found themselves refugees in Syria. And when they managed to reach Greece, they have not always received a warm welcome.

On the Okeanews website (in French):

http://www.okeanews.fr/20141126-se-souvenir-des-refugies-grecs-alep-en-aidant-les-refugies-syriens-athenes

 

GREECE: HUNGER STRIKE IN DETENTION CENTERS

Tags

Balkans, detention, exilés, Greece

Detention conditions unworthy confinement, continued detention beyond the limit of eighteen months, and with no time limit, the recent death of two inmates by carelessness: the inmates of Amygdaleza detention center, near Athens made a hunger strike from 17 to 22 November. They suspended after the first concessions from the authorities: improved living conditions in the center, the release of thirty people locked up for more than two years, the promise of the situation of one hundred and fifty others who are in the same case to be reconsidered. They said they would resume their hunger strike if the authorities do not keep their commitments.

In French on Le Courrier des Balkans website :

http://balkans.courriers.info/article26072.html

In English on Clandestina website :

https://clandestinenglish.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/hunger-strike-in-amygdaleza-detention-centre/#more-5182

Another hunger strike of persons locked-up for more than eighteen month has started in Paranesti detention center, near Drama, in the north-east of Greece.

In English on Clandestina website :

https://clandestinenglish.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/hunger-strike-in-paranesti-detention-center/

 

GREECE: DEMONSTRATION OF SYRIAN REFUGEES

Tags

asylum, Balkans, exilés, Greece

Since November 19, about two hundred Syrian exiles camp outside the Greek parliament in Athens. Blocked in Greece, where they applied for asylum, they are left homeless and destitute throughout a process that never ends. They ask for dignified reception conditions and the possibility of schooling for their children. The implementation of the law, simply.

Article in French:

http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/11/23/grece-des-syriens-campent-devant-le-parlement-pour-de-meilleurs-conditions-d-accueil_1148937

and on the Okeanews website:

http://www.okeanews.fr/20141125-les-refugies-syriens-cherchent-se-sortir-indigence-grecque

Information in English here:

https://greekcrisisreview.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/syrian-refugees-call-for-solidarity-and-asylum/

And day-by-day on the blog Greek Crisis Review:

https://greekcrisisreview.wordpress.com/

You can also follow the situation here:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/syrianrefugeesgr?src=hash

 

GREECE: NEWCOMERS IN LESVOS

Tags

Balkans, border, exilés, Greece

Reflection of the Middle East crisis (the war settled in Syria and which starts again in Iraq), but also the closure of the land borders (erection of barriers, strengthening of controls, already old refoulement practices), exiles use again the sea to reach the European Union from Turkey. To Italy, to the north, the Black Sea and Romania, or directly to the Greek islands near the Turkish coast.

Thus, 5700 exiles arrived on the island of Lesbos in three months, from 15 August to 14 November.

Shipwrecks continue too, as in the night of November 20 to 21 near Lesbos. Sixteen people survived and four were missing, including a child.

Article in Greek:

http://www.emprosnet.gr/article/66624-4700-metanastes-sti-lesvo-mesa-se-treis-mines

The situation in Lesbos can be followed through the blog Welcome 2 Lesbos:

http://lesvos.w2eu.net/

You can read especially the story of a young Syrian 17years old accused by the Coast Guard to be a smuggler, and sentenced to seven years in prison based on their sole testimonies to charge him.

 

GREECE: NEW SENTENCING UNDER THE ECHR

Tags

Balkans, detention, exilés, Greece

Greece has again been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for detention in inhuman and degrading conditions of a Bangladeshi national (overcrowding, lack of opportunity for exercise, lack of hygiene).

The press release from the ECHR, that you download here :

http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx#{%22itemid%22:[%22003-4925063-6028012%22]}

« MD v. Greece (no. 60622/11)
The applicant, Toiabali MD, is a Bangladeshi national who was born in 1978 and lives in Thessaloniki (Greece). The case concerns the conditions and the lawfulness of Mr MD’s detention from 4 January to 15 March 2011 in the aliens’ police department in Thessaloniki, with a view to his deportation.
Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Mr MD complains of his conditions of detention, and in particular of overcrowding, a lack of opportunities for physical exercise and a shortage of food. Under Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security), he also alleges that his detention with a view to his deportation was unlawful. Relying on Article 5 § 4 (right to a speedy review of the lawfulness of detention), he alleges that the domestic authorities did not give due consideration to his complaints in that regard. »

You can read the judgment here (in French):

http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx#{%22languageisocode%22:[%22FRA%22],%22itemid%22:[%22001-147884%22]}

 

GREECE: THE COAST GUARD ACCUSED OF TORTURE ACQUITTED

Tags

Balkans, exilés, Greece, human rights

Coastguards have fun. Hitting an exile, dip his head in the water to the edge of asphyxiation the threat of a weapon by saying we’re going to kill him, put his head in a plastic bag to the limits of suffocation.

Exceptionally, for what happened in 2007 an investigation was conducted, the authors brought to trial and convicted.

The Court of Appeal of Athens has to acquit them, despite evidence and testimony, the victim in a position of accused at the hearing.

In French on the Okeanews website :

http://www.okeanews.fr/20141114-les-avez-embetes-gardes-cote-acquittes-condamnation-torture

 

 

GREECE: A COMMITTEE FOR THE PREVENTION OF TORTURE REPORT

Tags

Balkans, detention, exilés, Greece

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published its report following its last visit to Greece. It focuses on police and coast guard stations, detention centers and prisons. It concludes at the persistence of inhumane conditions, abuse and racist behavior by staff.

Presentation in English in the ECRE weekly Bulletin :

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8e3ebd297b1510becc6d6d690&id=a541bf16b9

You can download the CPT report (in English) here.

 

GREECE: REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL EUROPEAN FUNDS FOR MARITIME BORDERS CONTROL

Tags

Balkans, border, exilés, Greece

The entrance to Greece’s land border with Turkey was made more difficult (deployment of ground units of the European agency Frontex, erection of a fence, technology enhanced control, back at the border), so exiles take again the sea, from the coast of Turkey to the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

Greece therefore requires additional European funds to strengthen controls at the maritime border, arguing the growing number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees trying to reach Europe.

Articles in English :

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_04/09/2014_542667

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/04/us-greece-immigration-idUSKBN0GZ27I20140904

 

TURKEY: SINKING OF A BOAT OF EXILES AT THE EXIT OF THE BOSPHORE

Tags

Balkans, borders, exilés, Turkey

Monday, November 3, a ship carrying about forty exiles was wrecked at the exit of the Bosphorus. At least 24 people died, including children. The ship was heading to Romania.

Strengthening land borders with Greece and Turkey (fences, patrols, refoulement of persons to Turkey) leads the exiles to turn to the Greek Islands of the Aegean Sea, or here in the Black Sea. The situation in Bulgaria is an effective deterrent for boats to avoid and go to Romania.

In French on Le Courrier des Balkans website :

http://balkans.courriers.info/article25918.html